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Pa. woman who has targeted celebs is jailed

By JOE MANDAK Associated Press

Posted:
04/24/2013 09:11:16 AM EDT

Updated:
04/24/2013 12:43:55 PM EDT

PITTSBURGH—A northwestern Pennsylvania woman who has targeted Michael Jordan and Paris Hilton in frivolous lawsuits has been jailed on charges of stalking a woman the suspect imagines was competing with her for the romantic attention of a sheik in Dubai, police said.

Lisa Ann Miceli, 41, is still on probation for pleading guilty in 2011 to harassing police in her hometown of Meadville—some 90 miles north of Pittsburgh—by calling them repeatedly to complain about Internet postings about her life.

Miceli has become well known in western Pennsylvania for her nearly 10 years of legal battles stemming from celebrity fixations.

Miceli sued Jordan in 2004 claiming he fathered her son, forcing the former NBA star to get restraining orders even after two paternity tests were negative.

When Miceli persisted in trying to contact Jordan and his representatives, the basketball superstar sued and got a Crawford County Judge Gordon Miller to order Miceli in 2008 to stop contacting Jordan and his camp. But even at that hearing, Miceli continued to claim that Jordan had breached a 2005 paternity test agreement prompting the judge to say, "It is obvious that she doesn't, or is unwilling to, grasp what this suit is about."

By 2009, Miceli had turned her attention to Hilton, claiming in a lawsuit that a judge quickly dismissed that Hilton was trying to interfere in Miceli's relationship with a sheik or prince in Dubai.

Meadville Assistant police Chief Tom Liscinski told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Miceli's fixation on the sheik has apparently led to the latest charges against her.

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Miceli does not have an attorney listed in court records and remained in the Crawford County Jail unable to post $40,000 bond on Wednesday. She faces a May 9 preliminary hearing on charges of stalking, harassment and disorderly conduct for repeatedly calling a woman about the woman's alleged interest in the sheik.

"The defendant thinks the victim is having an affair with the sheik," Liscinski told the Erie Times-News, which first reported the news charges Wednesday. That woman did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

Liscinski told the AP that Miceli knows the woman because she used to rent an apartment from Miceli's father.

The most recent confrontation occurred Saturday at an apartment complex where the alleged victim moved about a year ago. Miceli allegedly loudly confronted the woman, and wouldn't leave even after police arrived, despite having been told by her probation officer to stop contacting the woman. Miceli has repeatedly called the woman, and contacted the other women's parents, police said.

The alleged victim is a behavioral counselor, but Liscinski said Miceli has had no professional contact with her. Liscinski said police have looked into Miceli's claims about the sheik or prince, to no avail.

"There is a prince, but from everything that we've ever heard, there has been no contact between him and her," Liscinski said, adding that police don't know what drives Miceli's delusions.

"I wish her counselors knew" because they could save a lot of innocent people from harassment, he said.

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